More than 6.2 billion naira worth of Captagon, widely known as the “Jihadi drug,” and millions of Opioid Pills have been intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says 47,200 pills of the illicit amphetamine drug, valued at more than 1.5 billion naira, were discovered concealed inside blocks of local bathing soap, popularly called “Ghana Soap.”
The seizure followed the arrest of a 49-year-old suspected cross-border drug kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight on Saturday, August 22.
A search of his carton of Ghana Soap led operatives to the Captagon pills concealed within the blocks of soap.
Captagon is notoriously dubbed the “Jihadi drug” for its reported use in funding extremist activities in conflict zones.
The NDLEA says Captagon was first intercepted in Nigeria in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
Following his arrest, Akinbile allegedly told investigators that he was expected to deliver the consignment in northern Nigeria.
In another interdiction operation at the Lagos airport, 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225 milligrams and Tapentadol 250 milligrams were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
The drugs had a combined gross weight of 2,787.40 kilograms and an estimated street value of more than 4.6 billion naira.
Three of the consignments, comprising 900,000 tablets of Tramaking and weighing 815.40 kilograms, arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh.
A fourth consignment, comprising 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol and weighing 1,972 kilograms, arrived aboard Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.
The four shipments had been placed under close watch after nobody showed up to claim them.
They were formally retrieved following a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs and other stakeholders on Friday, August 28.
Also in Lagos, a 31-year-old United States returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested by NDLEA Operatives at Ikate in Lekki on August 19 after he allegedly showed up to take delivery of 3.350 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.
In Rivers State, NDLEA Operatives raided the notorious Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt, where they recovered a fireproof iron safe among other items.
The safe was cracked open with a welding machine on Tuesday, August 25.
Inside it, operatives recovered 237 grams of Colorado, 316 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of heroin.
In Ondo State, three suspects, Oyedele Daniel, 42; Taye Saliu, 36; and Kehinde Saliu, 36, were arrested along the Ipele-Idoani Road on Friday, August 28.
A total of 728 kilograms of skunk was recovered from their truck, marked KRE 120 XB.
Two other suspects, Uche Joseph, 35, and Godwin Umeh, 21, were arrested at Aponmu forest on Wednesday, August 26, with another 341 kilograms of the same substance.
In Delta State, more than 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol, molly and others, were recovered during two interdiction operations in parts of the state between Wednesday, August 26 and Friday, August 28.
This was containted in the agency’s weekly update issued by the spokesman, Femi Babafemi.
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Editor: Nkoli Omhoudu
